The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty-nine newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our first granted patent report of the day we cover some of the higher profile wins of the day that cover a wide range of technologies including crack resistant glass, a next generation Ionic Wind Generator and much more.
Apple Granted Patent for Crack Resistant Glass Solutions for Portables
Apple has been granted a patent titled "Shock mounting cover glass in consumer electronics devices. This patent was covered in our November 2011 patent report titled "Apple Invents Crack Resistant Glass Solutions for Portables."
Apple Granted Patent for Ionic Wind Generator Cooling System
Apple has been granted a patent titled "Methods and apparatus for cooling electronic devices." We covered this invention back in January's report titled "Apple Reinvents the Ionic Wind Generator Cooling System."
In another hardware related patent, Apple has been granted patent 8,305,761 titled "Heat removal in compact computing systems."
Apple Granted Patent for iPhone/iDevice Photo Management
Apple's granted patent generally relates to portable electronic devices, and more particularly, to portable devices for photo management, such as digital photographing, photo editing, and emailing photos.
Apple's First Patent Claim: 1. A method, comprising: at a device with a touch screen display: detecting a first gesture by a physical object on the touch screen display; while detecting the first gesture, translating a first digital object displayed on the touch screen display in a first direction, wherein the first digital object is associated with a set of digital objects; in response to continued detection of the first gesture while a previously hidden edge of the first digital object is displayed, displaying an area beyond the edge of the first digital object; in response to ceasing to detect the first gesture, translating the first digital object in a second direction until the area beyond the edge of the first digital object is no longer displayed; after ceasing to detect the first gesture, detecting a second gesture by the physical object on the touch screen display; and in response to detecting the second gesture while the previously hidden edge of the first digital object is displayed, transitioning from displaying the first digital object to displaying a second digital object in the set of digital objects.
Apple Granted Patent for Microperforation illumination
Apple has been granted a patent for microperforation illumination that is the process behind the illuminated Iconic Apple logo that glows on all MacBook Pro notebooks. The first patent claim covers the following: "A visual display element, comprising: a base layer defining one or more microperforations; and a light guide coupled to a light source, the light guide positioned adjacent the base layer and including one or more concave microlenses in alignment with the one or more microperforations along at least one vertical axis." We covered this invention back in November 2011 under the title "Apple Advances Visual Display Elements to Conserve Battery Life."
Today's Granted Patent has Nothing to do with Invisible Buttons
Another site is stating this morning that this granted patent is about invisible buttons. Funny, there's no mention of buttons or invisible ones in this patent. But it sure makes for a nice byline that's not real. Hell, one site (TechCrunch) echoing that report went as far as describing it as a vanishing interface; all of this from a granted patent that doesn't talk about this in the least. Even the patent figures associated with this patent are focused on one thing, Apple's illuminated logo - end of story.
There is, however, a patent about invisible buttons in this same vein if you're interested in that, and you'll find it here. But that's not the patent that was granted today. Today's granted patent which has nothing to do with invisible buttons could be reviewed here.
Apple Granted a Patent for Adjusting Audio Output of Devices with Sound Sensor
Apple has been granted patent 8,306,235 titled "Method and apparatus for using a sound sensor to adjust the audio output for a device." Apple's granted patent relates to techniques for adjusting the audio output of a device. More specifically, the granted patent relates to a method and an apparatus for adaptively adjusting the audio output for a device based on an ambient sound level measured by a sound sensor.
To read about the other granted patents of the day, see our second report.
NOTICE: Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details. About Comments: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit comments.
